Christian Vazquez didn’t receive much respect from the New York tabloids after his gargantuan home run Sunday night clinched the Boston Red Sox’s three-game sweep of the hated Yankees.
On a back page primarily bashing Yanks reliever Dellin Betances, who served up Vazquez’s seventh-inning blast, the New York Daily News proclaimed “Someone Named Christian Vazquez” had provided the pivotal play in the Sox’s 8-7 win at Fenway Park.
Red Sox fans certainly know Vazquez, who’s been projected as the team’s catcher of the future since before he made his major league debut in 2014. The 25-year-old did miss all of last season with an elbow injury, though, so it’s safe to say he’s not exactly a household name nationwide.
It’s also safe to say nobody expected Vazquez to go yard when he stepped to the plate against the flame-throwing Betances in the seventh inning Sunday night. Yet he did, clubbing a 97 mph first-pitch fastball onto Lansdowne Street to help secure the Red Sox’s first series sweep of the Yankees since 2013.
It was just the second career home run for Vazquez, who’s known much more for his defensive prowess than for his ability with a bat in his hand.
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Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
